Into Lassen from our side
The two entrances that start in Chester, seven years of park highway opening dates, the fees, and the honest version of the Dixie Fire.
Read the full Lassen guideOne layer past the main guide
Three hikes into Lassen, from easy to all day
Our full Lassen guide covers the roads, the entrance fees and when the park highway opens. This one is narrower: three trails inside the park, the actual distance and time each one costs you, and which one fits which kind of day.
Every distance, elevation figure and time below is the National Park Service’s own number, quoted from its own pages and read on 24 September 2026.
- Manzanita Lake Loop: 1.7 miles, flat
- Bumpass Hell: 3 miles, about 90 minutes
- Lassen Peak: 5 miles, 1,957 feet of climb
- Roads and fees are in the full Lassen guide
The short version
- Manzanita Lake Loop is 1.7 miles and flat. A morning walk, not a hike, and the closest of the three to the northwest entrance.
- Bumpass Hell is 3 miles round trip and takes about 90 minutes, per the Park Service. The trail drops 300 feet into a basin of hot springs and mud pots, the largest hydrothermal area in the park.
- Lassen Peak is 5 miles round trip with 1,957 feet of climb, starting at 8,500 feet and taking 4 to 5 hours. This is the whole day option.
- None of the three is inside the road table’s open season year round. The park highway that reaches all three trailheads follows the same opening and closing dates in our full Lassen guide.
- We have not measured any trail for accessibility. Ask before you book if that decides your trip.
Manzanita Lake Loop, the easy one
The Park Service lists this as a 1.7 mile loop around Manzanita Lake, near the northwest entrance at Loomis Plaza. It is flat, it circles water, and it is the trail we would send a family with young kids or a guest who wants an hour outside rather than an afternoon.
It sits at the opposite corner of the park from our own Warner Valley and Juniper Lake entrances, so treat it as part of a day that also uses the Southwest Entrance and the park highway, covered in the main Lassen guide.
Bumpass Hell, the one most people mean
The Park Service states it plainly on its own page for the hike: the Bumpass Hell basin is reached only on foot, by a trail it lists at 3 miles round trip, and it puts the walking time at about 90 minutes.
The trailhead sits at roughly 8,200 feet on the park highway. The first mile is close to flat along the northeast slope of Bumpass Mountain, with an overlook near the half mile mark. From there the trail drops into the basin itself, where a boardwalk carries you over the hot springs, mud pots and steam vents without putting a boot through a thin crust. This is the largest hydrothermal area at Lassen and the trail most people picture when they picture the park.
At high elevation and mostly exposed, so start early and bring more water than a 90 minute hike seems to need.
Lassen Peak, the whole day
The Park Service’s own page for this hike gives a round trip distance of 5 miles, a starting elevation of 8,500 feet, an elevation gain of 1,957 feet, and an estimated time of 4 to 5 hours.
The trail climbs through mountain hemlock and whitebark pine on loose cinder, then switchbacks up an exposed ridge to the first summit, where the maintained trail ends. From there a rougher route continues to the true summit or down into the crater itself. Weather changes fast at 10,457 feet and afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer, so a morning start is not a suggestion here.
Picking a day
If you have one day in the park and want the postcard, Bumpass Hell is the trail: 90 minutes, moderate footing, and the hydrothermal basin the whole park is named for. If you have half an hour before dinner or a kid who needs to walk somewhere, Manzanita Lake Loop is flat and close to the northwest entrance. If you came to climb something, Lassen Peak wants a full day, a 6 AM start, and legs that can do 2,000 feet of loose cinder.
None of this replaces knowing whether the road is even open the week you are here, what the entrance fee is, or how the two entrances near us actually drive. That is the full Lassen guide, and we would read it first.
Where you sleep
We are at the junction of Highway 36 and Highway 89, three miles west of Chester, the town both of our Lassen entrances start from.
Motel rooms From $125+ a night plus county tax.
The house From $225+ a night plus county tax.
RV sites From $60+ a night plus county tax.
No booking fee, no resort fee, no cleaning fee. Plumas County adds 9% occupancy tax and a 3% tourism district assessment. First bookable night is 30 September 2026.
More from the area
A season calendar for Cedar Lodge
What is open and what is not, month by month, across the park, the lake and the snow.
Read the season calendarSources, and when we checked them
- National Park Service, Hike to Bumpass Hell. The 3 mile round trip distance and 90 minute time, quoted verbatim. nps.gov. Read 24 September 2026.
- National Park Service, Hike Lassen Peak. Round trip distance, elevation gain, starting elevation and time, quoted verbatim. nps.gov. Read 24 September 2026.
- National Park Service, Day Hiking, Lassen Volcanic National Park. Manzanita Lake Loop, Lily Pond and Cinder Cone trail descriptions. nps.gov. Read 24 September 2026.
Last checked 24 September 2026. Trail conditions, elevation and open dates change with the season. Road and fee detail, including the seven year opening date table, is in the full Lassen guide, checked the same day.